Would you turn to Psalm 57? Psalm 57. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of the wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.
Selah. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. My soul is among lions. And I
lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of
men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp
sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth. They have prepared a net for
my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before
me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Sheila,
my heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory. Awake, solitary
and harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise Thee, O Lord, among
the people. I will sing unto Thee among the
nations. For Thy mercy is great under
the heavens and Thy truth under the clouds. Be thou exalted,
O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name. That you would. Be in our midst. that you would speak by your
spirit from your word to each heart here according to your
will. May we be enabled to worship thy dear son and teach us what
it means to trust and rest in him. Lord, we pray for our friends
that are sick. In body, in mind, we pray for
your blessing upon them. We are so thankful that we're
all in your hand and whatever you do is right, holy, just,
and true. And Lord, by your grace, we do
trust you as the one who does all things well, and it's well
because you did it. Give us the grace to Sit at thy
feet and hear thy word. We confess our sin, we pray for
your forgiveness, your cleansing. We pray for your blessing upon
this assembly and all your people wherever they meet together.
Bless us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Now notice in the title, to the
chief musician, and it's said that David wrote this when he
fled from Saul in the cave. You can read about that in 1
Samuel chapter 22, where David hid in a cave. And the scripture says, everyone
that was in debt discontented and distressed came to him. What a gospel type. Everyone
that was distressed, discontented, and in debt came to him at that
time, and he became the captain over them in the same way now,
isn't it? Same way now. Now, David begins this psalm
And this is what every believer desires and needs. Be merciful unto me, oh God. That's what I need. Be gracious to me, oh God. God said with regard to himself,
I will be gracious. to whom I will be gracious, but
I will be gracious. That is his nature. He delights
in giving grace, in bestowing his mercy. And that is our prayer,
isn't it? Be merciful unto me, O God. Don't give me what I deserve.
If you give me what I deserve, it's over for me. Have favor
toward me. Show me your grace. And look at it as reasoning for
this. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. You know, you
can't trust him if you don't know him. If you know him, you
do trust him. You may not understand everything,
but you trust Him who does it. As a matter of fact, I know you
don't understand everything, neither do I. We don't understand
anything as far as what's going on, why the Lord allows what
He allows, all these different things. I don't know, but He
does, and I trust Him. I trust that whatever he does
is wholly just, right, and true because he does it. And I'm saying
be merciful unto me because I trust you. Now, the only reason I trust
you is because you've been merciful to me. As I said, you cannot
trust him unless you know him. And if you know him, I mean truly
know the living God through the Lord Jesus Christ, you will trust
him. And this is his plea, be gracious
toward me. I trust you. I don't have anywhere
else to look. That's all I have. And this is
David's plea. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee, yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. You know, that's a very strong
word, calamities. You have them. I have them. Everybody has them. But they're
going to be overpassed. They're not going to last. One
of these days, I'm going to be in glory, beholding his face,
and there will be no calamities there. They're overpassed. But until then, he uses the picture
of a hen gathering its chicks under its wings. When the hawk's
in the air, the chicks come and Make the refuge there. And he
said, this is my place of protection under the shadow of thy wings. I'm not trying to do anything
to save myself. I'm simply under the shadow of
his wings. Why? Because I trust him. I trust
him. You know, one of the things that's
exciting to me right now is I really do trust him. I really do. Let's go on verse two. I will cry unto God Most High,
and I love the way he's called Most High. David used this name
for God many times, O Most High. You know what that means? That
means he's high above everything. That means he sees everything,
and that means he controls everything. God Most High. Now, I love saying
this. Do you know he's in control of
your thoughts right now? Somebody says, I don't believe that. He's
in control of that too. He's in control of everybody,
everything, every event. He's completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. Now what you do and what
I do, we do what we want to do. And God is completely sovereign
over what we want to do. This is who he is. He's most
high. Now look what he says. I will
cry unto God most high unto God that performeth. All things is
in italics, but it's true. All things. I will cry unto God
most high unto God that performeth for me. God performs for me. Oh, would to God that every one
of us can enter into what this means. God performs for me. What's that mean? One word that's used to translate
this word is perfect. God perfects me. Turn with me to Psalm 138, hold
your finger there. David says in verse eight of
Psalm 138, and this is the same word, the Lord will perfect that
which concerneth me. Now, how's he going to do that?
Well, by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. What that means is the Lord is going to make me,
and He's gonna do it all. He's performing this. This is
not by my works. He's gonna make me stand perfect
on judgment day, without sin, without fault. The Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me, and here's how I'm so sure
of that. Thy mercy, O Lord, endures forever. That's why I can rest in the
fact that you're gonna Perfect me, because your mercy endures
forever. Look what he says after that.
Forsake not the work of thine own hands. Now, if I'm saved,
I'm the work of his hands. And I'm asking him, don't forsake
the work of your hands. My only hope is you. Now, back
to our text. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth, perfects all things for me. And I like
the word perform. Perform. My salvation is His
performance. Let me give you some New Testament
scriptures that tell us exactly what that means. Paul said, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it's God that
worketh in you. Philippians 2.13, it's God that
worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. Isn't that wonderful? It's God
that worketh in you. Do you look to Christ only as
everything in your salvation? That's God working in you. Do
you love him? That's God working in you. Do
you have the will to know him? That's God working in you. It's God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Listen to this
scripture from Philippians 1, 6. He that hath begun a good
work in you will perform it. He does it all. And if you're
a believer, you love that. Listen to this scripture, 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 24, faithful is he that calleth you who also will do
it. Now this is the hope of the believer
that God performeth. The reason I'm going to persevere
all the way to the end is because the Lord God causes me to. He
keeps me in the way. And this is why he's praising
him. God performs all things for me. Now, everything that happens
in Providence is for me. And every believer can say that
just as if they're the only one God is working for. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to his purpose. All things work together for
good in providence and salvation. He performs all things for me.
Now, when the scripture says this, I believe, but it's his
faith that saves me. I love, but it's his love that
saves me. Even in my experience, he performs all things for me.
Let's talk about my sorrow for sin. Every time we pray, we confess
our sins. How sincere are you in it? Is
your sincerity good enough? How about your sorrow for sin?
Is it good enough? I'm not looking to my sincerity.
I'm not looking to my sorrow. I'm looking to His. His confession
of sin. You say, how can He confess sin
when my sin became His? The scripture says, I'll acknowledge
my transgressions before thee. That's just Christ taking my
sin. And He's the only one who truly had sorrow for sin. None
of us have had the sorrow we should have. None of us have
the sincerity we should have, but he performs all things for
us. That's the promise of scripture. Verse three, he shall send from
heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me
up. Selah, think about that. Meditate upon that. God shall
send forth his mercy and his truth. Now here's how God performs
all things for me. He shall send from heaven. That's
Christ coming from heaven and everything that happens, he sent
from heaven. He's in control of everything.
And that's how he performs all things for me. He shall send
from heaven and save me. from the reproach of him that
would swallow me up." Now, who would swallow me up? Well, the
devil would swallow me up. Men who have no love for the
gospel would swallow me up. My own sinful nature would swallow
me up. But he'll send from heaven and save me from the reproach
of him that would swallow me up. The Lord is my Savior. God,
my savior. Jesus Christ, my savior. He'll send from heaven and save
me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. And look
at this next line. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. Now turn with me for a moment
to Psalm 85. Mercy and truth. Verse 10, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Now, mercy
and truth are met together. Where do they meet together?
The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness and peace, God's
utter righteousness and Him being at peace with me and me being
at peace with God have kissed one another. Where do they kiss
at? The cross. Truth springs out
of the earth. What's that talking about? The
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy and truth is the
cross. There God is demonstrating His
absolute truth, His absolute righteousness, His absolute holiness,
and He is demonstrating His mercy and His grace and His truth.
Now this is how He shall come and save me by mercy and truth.
That's talking about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Psalm 85, that scripture I just read, leaves us doubtless about
that. This is where they meet together. Mercy and truth. Now back to our text in Psalm
57. Verse four. My soul is among lions. Notice. Plural, my soul is among
lions. Now, there's the roaring lion,
Satan, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour. And one of
the things that I can't help but think about when you think
about Satan, he doesn't know who the elect are. So he is after everybody who
professes faith in Christ. He doesn't know whether you're
truly saved, so he's gonna do everything he can to keep you
from looking to Christ only. That's his objective. He's a
lion that I'm no match for. You know, when people, I've heard
preachers get off on tangents studying the devil, don't do
that. I know this, me and you aren't any match for him, only
the Lord is. The lions, remember it's plural,
the lions of people who are enemies of the gospel, who will present
you in all kinds of different ways and present me in all kinds
of different ways in order to justify themselves. The lions
of the enemies of the gospel, the lions of my own wicked nature.
The biggest problem I have, it's not you. me. You believe that? But he should deliver my soul.
Now know what he says, my soul is among lions and I lie. I lie down. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. All these lions that are around
me, I just lie down in his safety and in his protection. That's
what the word means. I lie. I lay down. I lay me down
to sleep in peace, for thou, Lord, only maketh me to dwell
in safety. I lie. These lions, right now
at any rate, I'm not worried about them. Right now, I mean,
ask me after the service and I might be thinking a million
different things, but right now in hearing the gospel, I'm just
lying down. I'm not worried about a thing. Everything's fine. My soul is among lions. I lie
among them that are set on fire. Even the sons of men whose teeth
are spears and arrows and their tongue, a sharp sword. Sticks
and stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me.
No, they hurt. They hurt, but they're not going
to kill me. He speaks of the language of men as teeth or spears
and arrows in their tongues or a sharp sword. Now look in verse
five. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let thy
glory be above all the earth. Now, this is the heart desire
of every believer, everybody who knows him. Here's the key. You know him. Now, when I'm talking
about knowing him, don't start thinking about your personal
subjective experience of how well you know him. You know him when you know who
he is. You know he's sovereign. You
know him. You know he's holy. You know
he's all powerful. You know His grace saves. You know He's immutable. You
know Him. And that's the emphasis I want
us to see when we're talking about knowing the living God.
It's not, me and God are buddies. We have this real relationship.
You don't even know who He is if you talk that way. There's
no fear there. I mean, to know Him is to fear Him. To fear Him
is to look to Christ only. You have nowhere else to look.
You look to Christ only as everything in your salvation. Now, everyone
that knows him, here is their heart desire. Be thou exalted,
O God, above the heavens, and let thy glory be above all the
earth. Now, an unbeliever cannot enter
into this. That's not truly the desire of
their heart. God, he's revealed in the scripture.
to be exalted and glorified in all things. I love what Paul
said in Philippians chapter 2 with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what God said with regard to His name. God hath highly
exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Things in heaven,
things in earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now, I don't care what you're
going through if you're a believer. I don't care what you're going
through You get some satisfaction in this. God the Father is gonna
glorify God the Son. His name will be exalted. And
that makes you happy even if your circumstances are bad, as
far as humanly speaking. He will be exalted. And that is your desire. Verse
six, they have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They've
digged a pit before me. They want to entrap me. Whoever
they are, this is what he's talking about, people who are wishing
him evil. But the picture here, look what, into the midst whereof
they are fallen themselves. Now, what I thought about was
Haman in the book of Esther. He hated Mordecai. Why? Because Mordecai wouldn't bow
before him. He would only bow before the living God. And he
said, as long as Mordecai is around, I can't be happy. No
matter how good things are for me, I can't be happy unless Mordecai
is punished. So he builds a gallows, 50 cubits
high for Mordecai to be hanged on because the king had given
him a lot of power where he thought he could do this. And he says,
he's gonna get what's coming to him. Guess who was hung on
that gallows? Haman. The gallows he built,
he was hanged on. And that's what David is saying,
same thing. They've prepared a net for my
steps. My soul's bowed down. They dig the pit before me. They
want me to fall into it. Into the midst whereof they are
falling themselves. Selah. My heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise."
Now, when he says my heart is fixed, is that like Peter? Though everybody else will deny
you, I'll never do it. My heart's fixed. This is my
resolve. Is that what David is saying?
No. He says, my heart is fixed, you fixed it. You founded it. That word fixed means founded. My heart has been founded by
you and that's why I won't be moved. My heart is fixed, oh
God, my heart is fixed and you fixed it, you founded it. You've
laid it on the foundation. The reason my heart is fixed
or founded is because he founded it. This is not about my personal
resolve. I'm never going to commit that
sin again. Oh? Just you saying that. You ought not. You ought not,
but just you saying that exposes a great ignorance of yourself. My heart is fixed, not my personal
resolve, but you fixed it, you founded it, and by your grace,
I'll never look anywhere but thy Son. By your grace, by your
grace. I'm not saying, I'm not going
to look anywhere but Christ. I look everywhere but Christ,
apart from His grace. But as He founds my heart and
preserves me, I look to Christ only. My heart is fixed, O God,
my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. And then He says, Awake up, my
glory. Awake, psaltery and harp, and
I myself will wake early. Now, let's look at this in two
different ways. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up to who he is and his
glory. Wake up. But one writer suggested
this, and I think this is really what it means. Awake my glory. Who's your glory? Jesus Christ
is your glory. And that word awake is also translated
rise. This is actually speaking of
the resurrection of Christ, I believe, more than anything else. You
know, when mercy and truth spring up from the earth, that's talking
about the resurrection of Christ. Rise, my glory. Christ Jesus
is my glory. And that's true of every believer.
Awake, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp of praise
for this. I myself will awake early. Now,
some have said, well, that means a believer ought to get up real
early and start reading the Bible and get on your knees and pray,
you know, something about four o'clock in the morning. I remember,
there's a book I read by E.M. Bounds called The Power of Prayer.
I wish I'd never read it. I'm still cursed over, you know,
you need to get up so early to start praying. Get up before
everybody else. You kind of like you get a jumpstart and a headstart
on God. He'll hear you. Now it's good, if you wake up
early, good, good for you, don't tell me about it. But good for
you, good for you. But the point is, this is talking
about I'm going to rise. Because Christ was raised, my
glory was raised, I'm gonna rise early. I'm going to be resurrected. He says in verse nine, I will
praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee
among the nations." Now, I love what Paul said. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed of my sinfulness,
but I'm sure not ashamed of the gospel. It's glorious. It glorifies
God. The gospel, we believe. I'm not
ashamed to confess it before men. It gives God all the glory. It gives Christ all the glory.
And I'm not ashamed of it. As a matter of fact, I'm proud
of the gospel. You know, the gospel we believe, the gospel
of God the Father electing a people, Christ dying for those people,
God the Holy Spirit giving them life, it's worthy of God. It
glorifies God. And we're proud of that gospel. There's the one place pride is
good, pride in the gospel. The glorious gospel of the blessed
God. I will praise thee, O Lord, among
the people. I will sing unto thee among the
nations, for thy mercy is great under the heavens and thy truth
under the clouds. Notice mercy and truth again
together. You know, mercy and truth can't
be separated. The mercy of God, the way he saves is the truth.
And the truth is God's saving mercy. And they're above the
clouds, they're above the heavens. And he repeats himself, be thou
exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let thy glory be above all
the earth. Now that's the desire of every
believer. And let me close with Psalm 29, verse nine. Would you
turn with me there? Psalm 29, verse nine. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calve. That's talking about birth. Birth. The voice of God, the word of
God brings birth. And discovereth the forest, it
reveals. And in his temple, what's his
temple? The church. The body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the temple of God. In his temple doth everyone speak
of His glory. Now that is the message of the
church, His temple. They all speak of His glory.
Be thou exalted, O God. Let thy glory be above the heavens.